After weeks of looming concern, St. Thomas simultaneously hosted two series of events, Man, Woman and the Order of Creation and Trans Solidarity, Monday with high turnout and low hostility.

About three weeks ago, the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity announced it would host an all-day conference exploring “the Catholic vision of the human person in its theological, scientific and social construct.” The schedule featured multiple hour-long lectures from professors and other professionals about topics from the Catholic lens, many of which related to the transgender community. This sparked controversy from other groups on campus.

To address this, the Luann Dummer Center for Women organized Trans Solidarity Day as a counter talk that was to be held at the same time and also in O’Shaughnessy Education Center.

Deborah Savage, a theology and philosophy professor at SPS and the director of the Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture, organized the SPS conference. She was happy with how the day turned out.

“I was very proud … of the University of St. Thomas and of all of us for the way

we handled these events,” Savage said. “I think we showed that we are capable of having civil discourse on topics that concern us.”

About 10 protesters in support of transgender rights held signs and shouted to SPS conference attendees as they entered the building before the private talks began at 9 a.m. and as the public panel event began at 7:30 p.m.

In the morning student volunteers were stationed at the roped-off entrances to the auditorium lobby to allow in only conference attendees. The private daytime lectures required pre-registration.

The daytime talks were intended “to equip clergy, religious, pastoral ministers, educators, and lay leaders with the pastoral insights and language they need to reach out to those they serve – in love and in truth.” TommieMedia spotted few undergraduate students at these lectures. Many SPS students, priests, nuns and parish leaders were in attendance.

Mara Mangan, director of faith formation at Church of St. Dominic in Northfield, said she attended the conference to learn how to address transgender people she may encounter at her parish.

“I thought this is an important issue because pastorally, I encounter all different types of people,” Mangan said. “Part of my job is to educate. So I feel it’s important I need to know what the church’s belief is, because I represent the church.”

Across the hall at the Luann Dummer Center, conversations throughout the day were mainly attended by students and faculty.

Junior Carly Linder said she was interested in participating in Trans Solidarity Day because she has friends in the LGBTQ community and wanted to learn.

“I wanted to come … so I can be active in discussions and just give my input on stuff I’ve been learning about,” she said.

The Trans Solidarity Day events continued into the evening at Dorsey Way in the Anderson Student Center with a discussion led by a panel of five St. Thomas professors: psychology professor Lauren Braswell, biology professor Colin Martin, sociology and family studies professor Lisa Waldner, English and women’s studies professor Young-ok An and theology professor Corrine Carvalho, who spoke about “Gender, Sexuality, and the Reality of Creation” from various academic perspectives.

Moderator and Health and Human Performance professor Jill Manske called the panel discussion an “opening dialogue for many future discussions” at St. Thomas. Linder among other students hope that is the case.

“I have friends from the LGBT community, so obviously I just want everyone to feel accepted,” Linder said. “Just being able to talk about these things helps us advance and improve how we’re going about this stuff. And I think it’s especially important at a university.”

At the public SPS-sponsored evening panel, senior Julia Zappa wore a cross around her neck and a trans flag pin on her sweater. Zappa’s sister MJ is gender non-conforming, inspiring Zappa to learn as much as she can about gender and the Catholic church.

“I think this is so powerful today that we have people coming from all different

sides, coming to learn more,” Zappa said. “Because ultimately, knowledge is what’s going to fuel a greater insight and a greater empathy for those people on either side of this today.”

Zappa, who attended talks at both SPS and Luann Dummer Center events, said she perceived the atmosphere throughout the day to be cordial and respectful.

“It hasn’t been seen as ‘us’ versus ‘them,’” Zappa said. “Definitely some things in those conversations are contradictory and don’t necessarily gel together, from what I’ve seen, and how I’ve heard students talk about this side and approach it, it seemed super respectful.”

Lauren Andrego can be reached at lauren.andrego@stthomas.edu.
Mary Brickner can be reached at bric0029@stthomas.edu.
Sophie Carson can be reached at sophia.carson@stthomas.edu.